Put it down already

[wolfy-hound]

Having worked next to a couple vets, and talked to several vets and several vet techs.. the whole "drug euthanisia" for reptiles SUCKS. The animal takes forever to actually die. I've been told of firsthand accounts of tortoises and boas and pythons all taking long long hours to die, and since the heart just refused to stop beating, they eventually PUT IT IN THE FREEZER.

If a vet who is supposed to know how to do it best, tells me he/she puts the animal in the freezer becuase it's quicker and more humane, and like Wes said, the animals do not move around trying to escape, then I'll go with that idea.

Just because you spend more money to kill the animal doesn't mean that it's less painful. If you REALLY wanted to make a instantaneous death, you would brain the animal with a small(or large) sledgehammer, to cause instant brain disfunction. Brutal? Yes. But it's definitely the fastest death, and thus by timing, the least painful.

We can't tell really when a reptile is still feeling pain, or uncomfortable, or has a headache. (I also don't think saying the snake has a headache is anthromorpizing it, it's saying the snake had pain in it's head, not that it's sad). Reptiles don't show us much.

And as far as the "I heard.." unless the person told you "I do XXX" please discount it as typical rumor-mongering.

Every person who breeds snakes has to make their own decisions. Unless you personally have had a deformed baby hatch, then you'll have a very hard time saying what you yourself will or will not do. I used to say "I'd give it every chance", but when you look at a deformed baby who obviously will never be 'right', you have to make the decision right then about what you see in front of you, not as a theory.